


A Different Guest

by Ecarden



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Lagos - Freeform, Nigeria is actually a country, Not Captain America Friendly, Sokovia Accords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-15 18:47:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29688345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecarden/pseuds/Ecarden
Summary: Tony has the sense to bring someone besides Thaddeus Ross to the delicate first meeting and the UN has the sense to send someone else. It still doesn't go well.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 33





	A Different Guest

**Author's Note:**

> Some dialogue stolen from Captain America: Civil War.

“Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving.”

“Thank you.” Steve glanced at Vision, who had just walked through the wall into Wanda’s room, interrupting their heart-to-heart. “We’ll be right down.”

“I’ll use the door. Oh, and apparently he’s brought a guest.”

“We know who it is?”

“His Excellency Suleimen Mohammed, Ambassador for the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

They all gathered in the meeting room. The ambassador was a large man, his suit impeccably tailored and close-cropped white hair. His eyes were dark and hard.

“We all know why we are here. But before we get to the end result, I want to be sure I have my facts correct. Mr. Rogers, you received word that a former SHIELD terrorist was going to launch an attack within the largest city of my country. You received intelligence on the location the attack was going to occur. You did not tell me. You did not tell my nation. You did not tell the State Security Services, or the Nigerian Police Force. You did not contact our military, or the National Intelligence Agency. You evaded passing through customs—”

“We did not,” Steve interrupted.

“I checked. You either evaded customs, or you entered under a false identity.”

There was a moment of silence and everyone tried not to look at Natasha who had arranged their transport into the nation. “We couldn’t risk tipping off our target,” she said sturdily.

“You entirely ignored the existence of Nigeria in pursuit of your own ends. You violated our borders. You violated our sovereignty. You endangered our people. I realize you have were frozen in 1945, but the era of empires is over,” his voice was dead level the entire time.

“I resent the implication—” Steve began.

“I resent the invasion of my nation!” the outburst was the first real show of emotion out of the man since he’d walked in and it silenced the room. He took a deep breath and then his control was back. “Having chosen not to warn my government, or my people, you successfully infiltrated our country. Then you attacked the other terrorists—”

“We are not terrorists!” Sam interrupted.

“My apologies, Mr. Wilson. You attacked the other ex-SHIELD agents in the street, using weapons you had smuggled into my nation in violation of our laws. You set off explosives in our streets and sent drones and people flying through the air. When the other ex-SHIELD agents fled, you pursued them into a crowded marketplace. At no time during your pursuit did you notify my government. At no time did you contact anyone who could have evacuated anything. At no time did you even yell a warning, not that that would have helped much as you only speak English. You did not even call the police. Is that correct, Mr. Rogers?”

“It’s Captain Rogers, actually,” Natasha put in, more to buy time for Steve to recover than any other reason.

The man’s voice dropped half an octave. “Is it?”

That there was a trap was obvious from his tone. What the trap was, however, was less clear.

He continued. “Speaking not as a representative of my nation, but as a man whose family was with him in New York when the Chitauri attacked, I will give you a personal gift, from me to you. Say no to that question. Because if you are _Captain_ Rogers and you are a U.S. Army officer, then what you have done here will rise to a whole different level of significance. My country will have to demand that you be charged for your actions, which were undoubtedly in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If you’re a civilian, then we would have to attempt to extradite you, which would run into many problems. If you are a solider, then we _have_ to demand that your superiors punish you or take responsibility for your actions. Which is it?”

“Mr. Rogers is fine.”

“Now, you did not call the police, or any governmental agent or agency until after the detonation of the final bomb? Is that correct, Mr. Rogers?”

“Yes. We could handl—”

“I do not care. You are not responsible for our people’s protection—”

“Yes, we are! We defend the planet and humanity and are responsible for—”

“You are unelected, self-appointed vigilantes with no concern for—”

“We saved lives!” Steve won the shouting match by dint of enhanced lungs.

“If you wanted to save people, you would have contacted us. You wanted to show the world they still need you. We do not. We can save ourselves just fine, Mr. Rogers. And did so for the seventy years you spent in the ice.”

“Didn’t do it in New York,” Natasha countered.

“Your best argument, when you were still working with SHIELD. Which you no longer are, having brought them down. Good job on that by the way. Sincerely.”

“And now you come to us with border violations and technicalities—” Steve began.

“They are not technicalities, Mr. Rogers. You went into a nation which you had never been to, in which you knew no one, had no contacts and could communicate with only some of the population and chose to act with no thought for our right to self-determination. Mr. Rumlow sought to steal a disease. You sought to steal our self-respect and right to determine our own future. And your inability to see that is why you and Ms. Romanov, Ms. Maximoff and Mr. Wilson are _personae non gratae_ in Nigeria. In response to an emergency meeting of the African Union, I am authorized to inform you that similar declarations will be coming from all fifty-five member states. If you set foot on the continent, you will be arrested and deported. We do not require rescue by you and your Avengers.”

“You need—”

“There are a _billion_ of us! We do not need the four of you to come save us poor helpless children. Your _arrogance_ and total unwillingness to work with us murdered my people. Your past actions do not free you from this. We decline to be a backdrop for more Avengers misadventures. If you have intelligence, you may provide it, like any other civilian, but you are unwelcome in our home. And the fact that you still do not see that deciding to act in our home without even talking to us was a mistake is—”

“How am I supposed to trust your security agencies? SHIELD itself was corrupted by HYDRA.”

“Please, Mr. Rogers, this argument is beneath you. You have been betrayed so you have the right to act unilaterally in any nation you desire without discussion or consideration of how we mere locals may feel about it? No, I say again that the age of empires is over and we have no more patience with conquistadores, however noble their intent.”

“Isn’t this supposed by about the Sokovia Accords?” Tony asked, as everyone else stood there in shocked silence.

“I will leave that to our representative to the Committee. Good day.”

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I missed a line and they had permission to operate in Lagos? But if so, there should have been a lot more support and a lot of Ross's dialogue doesn't make sense. 
> 
> I know English is the official language of Nigeria, but at least according to the wiki, it looks like only about a third of the population actually speaks it.
> 
> Comments always welcome!


End file.
